I am a 34-year old British web designer with 14 years commercial experience.
I currently live just outside Baltimore, MD. After six months of contract work for Erickson Living, I have just accepted a full-time role with the company.
What I Can Do For You
I create the user interface and visual design of web sites; Determine site navigation design and content hierarchy; Use HTML, JavaScript, PHP and other tools to develop static and dynamic web pages; Work with Apache and MySQL databases to program web applications.
I specialise in standards-compliant HTML / CSS sites, paying particular attention to the User Interface (UI), Experience (UX) and visual design, balancing it with business requirements and content logic. I progressively enhance sites with judicious use of Flash, Javascript, jQuery and AJAX.
Crayon Cuties Designer
Concept, UI Design, Flex 3 and ActionScript 3 programming
The Crayon Cuties Designer is a Flash tool which allows customers to create a family of cartoon characters, customizing their clothes and appearance, and place them on checks, checkbook covers and address labels.
I created extremely in-depth designs in Fireworks CS3, focused on creating an engaging and easy customer experience, with obvious nods to the Mii designer on the Nintendo Wii.
The tool was created with Flex 3 and has been through constant revision since the start of development in April 2010, and version 2.4 is due for completion in October. At all stages, we reviewed and discarded any changes which lessened the customers' enjoyment of the process.
The Dutch Connection in Baltimore required a new web site for the opening of their second store. They requested that the site should entice the customer to browse the shops, rather than be a standard ecommerce florist site.
The structure is rigid, but uses circles, distorted rectangles and patterns to show a more playful side. The menu is unusually prominent at the top of the page, providing much information without being overbearing.
Video was used to add impact, and there are galleries of example products. The company logo of three tulips did not scale well for the web, so I drew a simpler, bolder version which the client liked so much they have used it as signage for the new store!
Originally built as a magazine site in August 2000, and launched 4th December 2000, The FTT was a repository for user-submitted articles, music and art. It even led to a club night in South London for its first birthday.
I built every iteration of the web site, which remained active (at varying levels) until late 2006. By 2008 it had been dormant for a while, so the decision was made to archive all content into a 'greatest hits' site.
The goal is to present all parts of the site as elegantly as possible, laying out the pages in HTML and CSS and using jQuery for a little sparkle. The site has been designed for modern widescreen monitors but uses a semi-fluid layout which allows viewing on older, 1024x768 screens.
The Rhyme Times Tables concept uses a combination of pictures (objects that rhyme with each number, i.e. three = Tree ), pattern (the layout of the pictures) and position of the number on the card) to teach kids their times tables. It is aimed at ages four to seven.
A colleague created the web site and asked me to build an example game in Flash to be placed on the site. This gives a tastes of two of the times tables, allowing the children to practice them and then test themselves on a selection of random cards.
A web site to promote National School Meals Week 2008. Focusing on presenting positive messages about school food by allowing the public to submit their memories of school food and the staff who made it.
I used jQuery to provide some motion to the web site, and the jqUploader plugin which allows the site user to upload a photo to the site.
A PHP/MySQL content management system (CMS) allows moderators to approve a submission for appearance on the site, edit it, and promote to the front page if desired.
ImageMagick is used by the CMS to process submitted photos and turn them into the polaroids seen on the site.
UI design, Graphic design, XHTML/CSS code, PHP, MySQL
A small, tidy web site for a local Italian Restaurant. I designed the page layout in Fireworks and coded the pages in content-out XHTML with CSS for the layout.
The Menu and Wine List pages draw their data from a MySQL database using PHP. Having built the database I created an Administration area in PHP to act as a Content Management System (CMS) for the restaurant owners.
A local artist, Robbie Stocker, required a portfolio web site to display his sculpture, photography, paintings and public works.
Due to a clerical error, the client had been guaranteed a price for the build, and the design costs were spiraling. This left an incredibly short amount of time in which to build the site.
Originally intended to feature a page for each piece of art, the site was likely to be in excess of 100 pages. I suggested instead that Lightbox2 be implemented, removing the need for individual pages. This allowed us to come in merely a couple of hours over budget, as opposed to tens of hours over.
The site is content-out XHTML with a CSS layout and Lightbox2 installed.
Preliminary layouts by a graphic designer were approved for style, but the client was unhappy with the layouts of the pages, yet unable to say why. Using Andy Clarke's block-out technique, I was able to show that the sizes and positions of the page elements did not reflect their importance. I resized, moved or removed elements and produced new visuals which followed the original guidelines for appearance.
I built the site in XHTML, 'content-out' style - the content follows a logical order in the code, but CSS places it in an attractive layout on screen. I used Prototype and AJAX to make select pages elegant yet simple.
Rhydymwyn Valley Nature Reserve was, during WW2, a munitions factory. It is now a nature reserve, and accepts coach parties from schools. They required an interactive CD-ROM for use in their centre.
I chose Flash over Director, for flexibility and familiarity. The structure was provided by staff at the reserve, along with photographs, text, a voice-over narration and a 1940's instructional film shot at the factory.
Page layouts were created by a designer at Eclipse and I combined all these elements into a working CD-ROM exclusively for use within the centre. We required numerous rounds of optimisation to the SWF files to ensure compatibility with the target computers (all Pentium III 100MHz to 233MHz).
A supplement to the earlier Inspired Developments site. The client wished to remove the Developments pages from the Flash site and have the individual pages targeted with Google Adwords. The catch was that the resulting pages should not feel static next to the Flash site.
I built the pages in content-out HTML with CSS placing the elements around the screen. I added motion to each development page by using Flash animations (clouds moving, lights switching on/off, birds flying) which were seamlessly overlaid on the pages.
Finally, I created CSS rollovers for the large circular images, which appear even with Stylesheets turned off.
Proximo insure commercial vehicles such as taxis. They wanted a new Flash site. We suggested an HTML site, which was approved provided it maintain the slickness of their previous Flash site.
The layout of the page is innovative compared to the average HTML page, yet still easy to navigate. Overflowing content is scrolled and the menus have drop downs as required - all standard XHTML with image replacement used to maintain font styles.
This is a good example of a site which is (a) standards compliant, (b) innovative, yet still (c) corporate.
Co-developed design and interface, Flash animation, ActionScript, PHP
An existing client started a new 'redevelopment' property company, targeting under 30's with designer city lifestyles.
I built this site entirely in Flash, using much ActionScript and traditional Flash animation.
The Eye is the main attraction and the eyeball is always pointing in the correct direction and angle from the confines of the eye to the current cursor position.
Each page includes a hand-drawn 'pop-art' style image of the property, which draws itself, then filters from TV interference to one or more pictures of the property. Each of these was hand drawn by the designer and then I manually animated them.
Get Set Magazine was produced to promote further education. The website was to be attractive to 14-16 years olds, and highly interactive.
I built the site in Flash, from Illustrator layouts. I designed and then coded in ActionScript the traveling menu bar, which follows the mouse cursor while closed, and when open, expands across the screen. The menu items can be scrolled through if there are more than will fit in the existing space.
The magazine was issued every three months, and I built the site to be modular and easy to update. Several advanced ideas were dropped due to the limited resources of most computers at the time.
A highly conceptual site for a property development firm. There were no limits to the brief, other than to push the 'wow factor' as far as possible. The design process was highly organic, and the initial visuals were continuously altered during construction, requiring numerous rewrites of the ActionScript code.
The initial user interface had a fixed navigation that didn't fit with the site. I designed a moving cursor that acted as both a tool tip and the main navigation. Several pages were redesigned to explore possibilities opened by this navigation method.
This site is an advanced prototype, designed to demonstrate the possibilities available to the client. The site was later completed by another designer before being replaced by a new design some years later.
07/09 Deluxe Checks, Senior Web Designer
10/08-07/09 Various freelance positions
10/07-10/08 Chester.com, Internet Manager
11/03-10/07 Eclipse Creative Consultants, Internet & IT Manager
10/02-02/03 Westwood Marketing & Design Consultancy, Freelance Web Developer
05/02-07/02 Graham's Machinery Sales Freelance Web Designer
05/00-12/01 Trinity Mirror Digital Media, Web Developer (North West) [12 months], Internet Coordinator (Chester Chronicle Series) [8 months]
More in the Resume...
